Ōpōtiki's mayor said rural communities need more cops amid the Bay of Plenty town's recent gang tensions, but police are adamant that staffing levels are sufficient.
It comes after further arrests over the weekend in Ōpōtiki and Whakatāne as police use special powers to crack down on gangs.
Mayor David Moore Moore told Breakfast on Monday: "It's unacceptable behaviour, driving around our streets of Ōpōtiki shooting at people, and it's good to see a heavy police presence right now, carrying out the arrests that they have done and the warrants and seizing these weapons.
"A bit of prevention would be really good," he added. "It's alright having the reaction and the police carrying out these arrests, but prevention would be a great start to stopping this in the first place."
He claimed the town's police station is operating at a third of the staff numbers it should have.
"I'm all for tough crackdowns, and I've met with senior members of our local Mongrel Mob and told them it's unacceptable, they know the consequences of what's happening," Moore said. "[But] the root causes of gang violence, and gangs – it's poverty.
"As a community, we're doing what we can to lift our community up, we've got a massive project that is underway hoping to bring back jobs and a bit of prosperity.
"But honestly, I've got to push. Our community, rural communities all around New Zealand are understaffed with police."
He said officers don't get the support they need.
"Wouldn't it be much nicer not to have to use these powers in the first place?" he asked.
"A member of the public is going to be caught up in the crossfire at some stage and enough's enough.
"We worked hard behind the scenes with iwi and the community earlier on to keep a lid on it."
But new police officers needed to be directed to rural areas, Moore said.
"If you pick up the phone to ring the police in a community like this, it's a good five [or] ten minutes before you get hold of someone and it's probably a call taker in Christchurch."
However, he rejected the idea people in the town are "terrified".
"We live with this, we carry on," he said. "I was working in town the day of the last incident, everyone was just carrying on like normal.
"I did hear a couple of the gunshots, I knew what was happening and I just thought, 'It's gotta stop'."
'We have sufficient staffing' - police commander
Eastern Bay of Plenty Commander Inspector Nicky Cooney responded to the mayor's call for more officers in a statement to 1News.
He said: "Police believe we have sufficient staffing levels in the Bay of Plenty to deal with the current gang tensions. Our officers on the ground are working hard to ensure their communities are safe and will use the tools available to them to make this happen. "
"When required, this can include re-deployment of staff from within Bay of Plenty district or bringing in extra staff from out of district.
"Our workforce is dynamic, and their deployment is continuously reassessed."
He said officers would "continue to take all necessary measures to stamp out" gang offences: "Since the operation to target gang tensions in Ōpōtiki and Whakatāne, 11 people have been arrested, 41 searches have been carried out, and $27,000 seized. "
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